1972 Edinburgh Corporation election

1972 Edinburgh Corporation election
← 1971 2 May 1972 1973 →
23 of the 69 seats to the Edinburgh Corporation; 35 seats needed for a majority
	Results by ward.
Council control before election; ; No overall control	Council control after election ; ; No overall control

An Election to the Edinburgh Corporation was held on 2 May 1972, alongside municipal elections across Scotland. Of the councils 69 seats, 23 were up for election.^[1]

Quick facts 23 of the 69 seats to the Edinburgh Corporation 35 seats needed for a majority, First party ...

Close

Following the election, with two by-elections pending, Edinburgh Corporation was composed of 33 Labour councillors, 21 Progressives, 9 Conservatives, and 5 Liberals. Labour did particularly well in the 1972 municipal elections across Scotland, and this was also the case in Edinburgh, where the party came close to gaining control of the council for the first time, controlling 33 of the councils 68 seats. The Liberals, with 5 seats, held the balance of power in the new council.^[1] Following the election Edinburgh corporation would elect its first Labour Lord Provost; Jack Kane.^[2]

The election also witnessed the continuation of the decline of the Progressives, who lost 5 seats.^[1]

Turnout was 42.1%.

[1]

[2]

	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes
Labour	11	5	0	5	43.5	42.0	59,456
Progressives	5	0	5	5	30.4	22.2	31,479
Conservative	4	2	2		13.0	18.2	25,808
Liberal	2	1	0	1	8.7	10.3	14,554
Independent	1	0	1	1	4.3	3.0	4,286
SNP	0	0	0		0.0	2.9	4,142
Communist	0	0	0		0.0	1.0	1,382

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	G. Fraser	2,446
	Labour	R. Cairns	1,784
	SNP	J. Maxwell	431
Majority			662
Turnout				38.62%
	Progressives hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	M. Moules	2,087
	Progressives	Josephine Dickson	1,921
Majority			166
Turnout				40.00%
	Labour gain from Progressives

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	J. Hastle	2,496
	Conservative	Margaret Houston	791
	SNP	J. Geddes	354
	Communist	L. Farquhar	33
Majority			1705
Turnout				34.04%
	Labour hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	A. Meek	5,286
	Labour	J. H. McKay	4,908
	Progressives	D. Mackenzie	1,162
	SNP	J. McKernan	752
Majority			378
Turnout				48.03%
	Conservative hold

1972 Edinburgh Corporation election

Aggregate results

Ward results

References

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Joyce Sheln	3,465
	Progressives	Mrs Robertson Murray	2,405
	Conservative	W. Percy	1,847
	Labour	B. R. MacKenzie	1,226
	SNP	A. S. Weir	246
Majority			1,060
Turnout				51.88%
	Liberal gain from Progressives

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	W. S. Dalgleish	4,181
	Conservative	G. V. McAra	2,159
	Communist	T. Burns	111
Majority			2,022
Turnout				43.37%
	Labour hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	R. Fox	4,393
	Conservative	Norma-Ann Clayton	622
	Communist	J. O'Donnell	140
Majority			3731
Turnout				33.01%
	Labour hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	C. Murphy	1,525
	Labour	J. F. Stephen	1,515
	Liberal	M. G. Falchikov	402
	Independent Nationalist	R. M. S. Tuck	150
Majority			10
Turnout				36.17%
	Progressives hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	M. McGregor	2,785
	Conservative	J. McConnell	1,188
	SNP	E. Milne	651
Majority			1597
Turnout				34.55%
	Labour gain from Conservative

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	O. Hand	1,546
	Conservative	P. Jones	688
Majority
Turnout				34.37%
	Labour hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	J. C. Campbell	7,705
	Conservative	A. H. Lester	4,025
	Communist	W. Cowan	133
Majority			3680
Turnout				46.06%
	Labour gain from Conservative

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	J. G. Gray	3,444
	Progressives	J. Dalgleish	1,573
	Labour	R. N. F. Halliday	756
Majority			1871
Turnout				49.23%
	Liberal hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	J. Bateman	3,252
	Liberal	N. L. Gordon	2,718
	SNP	R. J. Shirley	427
Majority			534
Turnout				46.76%
	Progressives hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	G. G. Norval	5,648
	Labour	W. J. Taylor	3,247
	Liberal	E. Sutherland-Loveday	1,111
Majority			2401
Turnout				44.98%
	Conservative gain from Progressives

Newington^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	J. D. Kidd	4,286
	Labour	B. Rutherford	1,798
	Liberal	J. Grahamslaw	1,298
	SNP	Christina MacWhirter	413
	Communist	Michele Gunn	78
Majority			2488
Turnout				46.39%
	Independent hold

South Leith^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	I. R. Hoy	2,614
	Progressives	C. Waugh	2,362
	SNP	J. Sinclair	326
	Protestant Action	J. Maclean	151
Majority			252
Turnout				46.16%
	Labour gain from Progressives

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	R. W. Irvine	5,244
	Conservative	Sarah Pringle	1,149
	Communist	C McManus	131
Majority			4095
Turnout				33.79%
	Labour hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	K. W. Borthwick	3,860
	Labour	Mary Hutchison	2,215
Majority			1645
Turnout				42.14%
	Progressives hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	I. A. Cramond	1,496
	Labour	P. McGhee	855
	Liberal	C. S. Waterman	474
Majority			6358
Turnout				38.99%
	Conservative hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	J. Sanderson	4,000
	Labour	R. D. Anderson	2,581
	Liberal	R. H. Guild	1,227
Majority			1419
Turnout				43.87%
	Conservative gain from Progressives

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	J. McInally	1,542
	Conservative	D. J. Walker	525
Majority			1017
Turnout				24.13%
	Labour hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	D. Renton	4,920
	Conservative	W. Scott	1,175
	Communist	W. Miller	889
	SNP	R. MacKenna	542
	Liberal	A. A. Mackay	415
Majority			3745
Turnout				43.90%
	Labour gain from Independent

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressives	W. S. Lyle	3,397
	Labour	N. Lindsay	1,843
Majority			1554
Turnout				46.18%
	Progressives hold